Cowher Not Loyal to Pittsburgh

November 24, 2000 by Steel Tank

Is it time? Is it time for the Steelers to throw in the towel and give some of their younger players a shot at competing in the NFL.

Yes, but � in typical Cowher fashion � no such consideration will be given to the future of this franchise or to rookies and players like Amos Z. presently rotting on the bench.

Last year, the Steelers swooned at the halfway point and could not seem to get out of their own way at times. Yet, the offense was lead by Mike Tomzack even though the Steelers foolishly kept 4 QBs for the entire year � I assume to thwart other NFL teams from raiding the tremendous wealth of talent the Steelers had at QB.

So why not play at least one of the other options at QB just to see what they could do instead of using Tomzack.

Wright was talked about so much by Cowher and others as having a great arm and uncanny skills at the QB position. Why not play him? Why not play Pete Gonzalez out of Pitt? Why not give these younger players a mere modicum of the opportunity that has been afforded Kordell Stewart?

Who is Cowher being loyal to? The experts will tell you that he is a "Players Coach" and he is very loyal to them.

Maybe so, however�.

There is every indication that Dan Krieder is a much better FB than John Whitman. Whitman was handed the starting job this summer while Krieder only made the team by being on the practice squad.

Why?

Carlos Emmons last year played in front of Joey Porter the entire season and Jason Gildon � also handed a starting job, continues to disease the Steeler defense every week!

Why?

The aforementioned Tomzack took valuable playing time away from Wright last year. Wright was cut this year with in favor of Tee Martin � no one can really say weather Wright is an NFL caliber QB or not.

Why?

Kordell Stewart continues to play in front of Graham who was replaced because of an injury!!!?? Graham was a half-hearted effort to get someone to compete for the starting QB position. The list of teams that have two better QBs than all of Pittsburgh�s QBs continues to grow.

What is going on here?

It�s very simple.

Cowher is loyal to only one man � HIMSELF.

The reason players like Whitman, Gildon and Kordell keep their starting jobs is because Cowher refuses to admit he is wrong. If he does admit he was in error, then Rooney has a legitimate reason to shit-can Cowher.

Billy will do almost anything to prevent this from happening. He will start the players necessary to achieve a certain number of wins so he is retained as head coach next year even though there are other players on this team that could excel over the next 5 weeks given the opportunity. This would benefit the long-term health of this franchise.

But Billy will not do this � he will play "His" players rather than give other players a chance. I would reason that this is how he won the power struggle with Donahoe last year. If he plays his players and chagrins other players by simply saying they do not perform well in practice, then it looks as if he has made the right personnel decisions.

This mentality plagues the Steelers.

When players are handed starting positions and given the Cowher stamp of approval � you can bet they will retain their starting positions until Cowher is gone.

Granted � the Steelers ran off 5 wins and could actually be closer to 9-2 or 8-3 rather than a sub .500 club.
Granted � Cowher was at least willing to use Graham and has benched players like Burress for poor play.
Granted � the NFL has had to apologize to Pittsburgh far too often for major mistakes by referees.

Unfortunately, this is just the set of circumstances that will bring Cowher back next year. With Cinci and San Diego still on the schedule � Pittsburgh might pull out a decent record.

At least a record that will keep Cowher at the helm. I can almost here him now�